Friday, November 28, 2014

Canadian aircraft idling in fight

Canadian military aircraft tasked with fighting Islamic State in Iraq are spending most of their time on the ground.

Canada is contributing six CF-18 fighter jets, two Aurora military surveillance aircraft and a Polaris refueling plane to the U.S.-led bombing campaign against the extremists.

The aircraft began flying sorties Oct. 30, and by the end of the first week had logged a total of 42. Those included an airstrike that destroyed four Islamic State construction vehicles.

But the pace has slowed, particularly over the past week.

While the CF-18s and other aircraft flew a combined 26 and 35 sorties in the war's second and third weeks, only 13 sorties were flown Nov. 20-26.

The military counts a sortie every time one of its planes embarks on a mission. If two planes are involved in the same mission, it counts as two sorties.

Of the 13 sorties, six were flown by the CF-18s, or exactly one mission per fighter jet over the entire six days.

The Auroras flew four and the Polaris three. Each sortie is believed to run about four to six hours.

A U.S.-led command center is responsible for assigning missions to coalition aircraft, and the Canadian commander on the ground, Col. Daniel Constable, said Thursday that Canada accomplished everything asked of it.

But Constable also said two weeks ago that coalition forces were having a hard time finding Islamic State targets, and the latest update indicates the situation hasn't improved.


- Source:  http://www.leaderpost.com

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